Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Williams plays odd role
When forward doesn’t start he often doesn’t play
MIAMI — Derrick Williams’ first two months with the Heat can be summed up with three words: all or nothing.
Nine times this season, the journeyman forward has been in Erik Spoelstra’s starting lineup. Eleven times he has been held out due to “coach’s decision.” That accounts for 20 of the Heat’s 28 games going into Tuesday night against the Orlando Magic at AmericanAirlines Arena.
The versatility of the free-agent forward added from the New York Knicks was supposed to offer Spoelstra a variety of options in the rotation. Instead, it largely has been feast or famine.
“We have a lot of guys that can do a lot of different things,” said the 25-year-old Williams, who signed a oneyear, $4.6 million contract in July that makes him the team’s seventh-highestpaid player this season. “We’ve had a lot of injuries. I think we probably lead the league in lineup changes. Everybody gets their chance.
“It’s still early in the season. We’re just trying to get our chemistry down, with every single player. It’s not just myself. But we had a lot of guys injured and things like that.”
Williams has been part of the revolving door at power forward that lately has stopped on Josh McRoberts.
“I’ve never actually had this type of experience, where I’ve had a few DNPs in a row and I started the next game, or I started and then DNP,” he said, having already experienced plenty in previous stops with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Sacramento Kings and Knicks. “It’s kind of up in the air. I’m not really sure. So I’m just kind of waiting for my name to be called and contribute when my name is.”
The minutes could actually become even scarcer now that Justise Winslow is back in the mix after a 16-game injury absence due to a sore left wrist, with the second-year forward increasingly cast in a power role as a means of concealing his limited perimeter offense.
For now, like others who have been part of this season’s feast-or-famine rotations, including fellow forward Luke Babbitt, Williams said a good attitude and perseverance on the practice court is carrying him through.
“I’m just going to continue to work hard. That’s what I do,” he said. “I get in here and work hard every single day, just improve and await my name and my number.”
According to the NBA, a flagrant 1 foul is defined as, “unnecessary contact committed by a player against an opponent.” According to the NBA, a flagrant 2 foul is defined as, “unnecessary and excessive contact committed by a player against an opponent.”
If both cases, as was the case Sunday, the opposing team is awarded two free throws and possession.
Thomas said immediately after the game the he planned to appeal the ruling.
“I just did a regular basketball move that I do every game, and it just happened to connect,” Thomas said. “I don’t mess with no elbows. I’m far from a dirty player.”
Winslow, who needed stitches to close the gash below his eye, appeared to serve as witness for the defense, when he said after Sunday’s game, “He just swung through. It wasn’t excessive. He didn’t mean to hurt me. It was a basketball play, heat of the moment.”